Chapter 158 - A Water Guardian
*Crack*
Over and over, the dungeon boss, rammed at the Ice sphere john had formed. The outside couldn't be seen as it was a dark ice sphere so they didn't know what was attacking them
"John, did you see it?" Serena asked
"No... I only saw it's outline thanks to deprehendre." John replied
"Me too..." Said Ariel
[She has a wind version of deprehendre... It works underwater?]
*Crack*
"Then, if we can't see it without magic, that means it's using something to coumaflage itself... Right?" John asked
"Not exactly."
"Then what is it, Master?"
"It's a elemental guardian bound to a water filled location."
*Crack*
"So it's one with the water?"
"In a way."
When John heard this, he immediately began thinking how much of a pain it would be to deal with it. If it was one with the water, he wouldn't be able to attack it as it could just slip through and it would be able to move around freely making it harder to attack
"So how do we kill it? Do we have to evaporate all of the water or something?" Serena asked
"No, to kill it, you have to either remove it's water source or the opposite."
"So we just remove it from the water?" Serena asked
"That's it?" John asked
"But since it's one with the water, wont it be impossible to remove it?" Ariel asked
"Hm... Serena, Ariel, let John deal with this floor." Said Master sylvia with a grin
[What?]
"O-Okay, be careful and good luck!" Said Ariel
"W-Wait, weren't we supposed to be working as a party?"
"Just think of it like something from back when we used to adventure" Said Serena struggling to hold back her laughter
[So this is her way of getting revenge huh...]
"John, think back on what I taught you, you'll be fine.
[In what way?]
��Alright master, you three can wait in here. I'll be back"
Darkness clouded John's eyes and before he vanished
He was a few feet above the dark ice sphere which he had formed and there were no signs of the monster. The attacks had also ended a short while ago, meaning that it was most likely tired of attacking.
[What she taught me... Don't always rely on your eyes...]
As he formed an air bubble on his head, John began to focus on his senses and magic perception, it was weak but he could feel it, a monster moving around in the area.
[Deprehendre]
When he did, his eyes widened, John could see the outline of the monster's shape, it was like that of a serpent, and seemed to be around 3 times john's size. it was charging right at him with its mouth opened
The watery fangs in its mouth did not look like something to be taken lightly. As it reached just a few feet away from John he shadows stepped above it.
It was fast, very fast, but John was not only faster but he also had something similar to a teleport.
As the water serpent bit into the area where John was standing, John shadow stepped on to the top of its body which was outlined with deprehendre, and placed his hands on it.
In that moment, where his hands were on it, he cast 'Verum Glacio' and in an instant it froze up.
[Eh? That fast?]
While frozen, It looked like an ice sculpture of a sea serpent when it reality it was just a frozen sea serpant
[What's next? Don't tell me the real boss is hiding somewhere? Depehendre.]
Nothing, there was nothing else around him
[Zestari, is this really the only boss here?]
[That is correct, however, I would get it away from the water source if I were you. Personally, I wouldn't want to waste time freezing it twice when I already managed to freeze it once.]
John who heard this grabbed on to the sculpture and quickly propelled himself towards the edge which they had dropped off of.
On the way there he decided to ask Zestari a few questions
[Zestari, wasn't the 2nd floor boss of a 5-floor dungeon supposed to be stronger?]
[you seem to be forgetting the fact that you have many advantages over it. For one, you can detect it, two, you can freeze it in an instant, and three, you are faster than it. The fight was over long before it started.]
John who heard this finally realised something, Zestari knew a lot, a lot about this world, a lot about the monsters, sort of like Serena, however there are things even Serena doesn't know that zestari will.
[And yes, it is strong. It's name is Water Weird. ranked A once it's inside of a big water source and B in a small one. Even A-Rank parties have trouble dealing with it because of how hard it is to detect even with a detection spell or how fast it is in water.]
[Wait, if you knew what it was, why didn't you tell me sooner?]
[You've been relying on me too often.]
[…]
***
"So how long do you think it'll take him to do beat it?" Serena asked
"I'm not sure... I can't hear any sounds of fighting, and I can't really feel it's presence anymore, maybe it's already over?" Ariel asked
"it's been 2 minutes, even if he's John, that's a bit too muc-."
"Alright, I'm back." Said john as he suddenly teleported in, interrupting the conversation
He held on to a big light blue stone which was emitted a high amount of magic power.
"..."
No one said anything and the two girls just stared at john with a blank expression
"I found the door to the next room, opened on the other side of the wall at the bottom on my way ba...ck...? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, let's just head on to the next floor." Said Serena as the expression on her face changed from a blank one to a poker face
"Master, Thanks i was able to quickly exterminate it thanks to your training."
"Well done."
Serena and Ariel formed an air bubble around their heads and john formed one around his and master's before they left the ice sphere and headed towards to the next floor door